THE EFFICACY OF STEROID INJECTIONS OF THE HIP

We present the results of 32 cortisone injections of the hip joint. Th ree patients had rheumatoid arthritis, 27 osteoarthritis and two had u ndiagnosed hip pain. Twenty-nine patients gained some benefit. The inj ection was useful to localize pain in doubtful cases before proceeding to hip replacement surgery. Mean benefit was 3.5 months pain relief, with three patients deriving no benefit. There was no relationship bet ween duration of pain relief and severity of X-ray changes. We feel th at this is a simple technique which should be used more widely.